Morton Ministry Calls for Balancing Act

Posted on January 5, 2007

Calgary Herald | January 4, 2007
by Joe Obad

Some recent commentary on Premier Stelmach's selection of Ted Morton as Alberta's Minister for Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) has revealed a lack of awareness in the province about SRD's critical role. Some have even questioned if the post was worthy of Morton.

Forget political patronage. Let's consider SRD's mandate: it oversees most activity on public lands in the province (outside federal and provincial protected areas). That's roughly 60% of the province! We should ask if this department is headed in the right direction, and what Morton needs to do to lead it.

SRD plays a vital role in attempting to balance competing social, economic and environmental values on our public lands. SRD grants access to energy companies, oversees forestry and grazing tenures, manages fishing, hunting, wildlife, and our efforts to maintain biodiversity. SRD also oversees access management for motorized off-highway vehicles. These varied interests on public land frequently overlap and conflict under Alberta's "multiple use" policy, often called "multiple abuse" because it fragments and overuses the landscape.

In the 2004 "It's Your Future" Survey, Albertans identified environment as a priority just after health care and education. Yet, it probably comes as a surprise to many Albertans that on public land Alberta Environment routinely marginalized. Instead, SRD is king and often acts in isolation from meaningful outside input.

So Morton inherits a department that is as pivotal as it is misunderstood, affecting issues well beyond the boundaries of public land. For example, take the province's much celebrated Water for Life Strategy. The strategy attempts to secure a sustainable water supply for the environment, our communities and our economic well-being. The strategy is mainly dependant on Alberta Environment's efforts to decrease downstream water demand. But look up river: the activities around our East Slope streams and rivers strongly affect our water quality and supply. Healthy forests in headwater areas slowly filter and release run off so that rivers can run deeper and healthier into the summer when demand is highest.

Yet, the Water for Life Strategy suddenly stops in the headwaters in SRD's domain: public land. Recently, SRD attempted to push through its C-5 Forestry plan on the East Slopes between Kananaskis and Waterton. The plan would reallocate timber to private companies for the next 20 years with token regard for wildlife and water resources. Alberta Environment and the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans were effectively shut out from the C-5 process, creating a gap in the strategy with huge implications.

The result? The C-5 plan is almost exclusively about timber yield. With authorities like Dr. David Schindler predicting a water crisis in southern Alberta, should we be committing to a 20 year forestry plan that benefits a handful of timber companies, while potentially leaving downstream users "out to dry"? SRD has historically avoided such questions. With our exploding population, and the affects of climate change, we can't afford to ignore these questions.

Unfortunately, SRD's approach is typically narrow, often with secrecy and obfuscation as tools. Other prime examples are SRD's "recovery efforts" for Alberta's iconic Woodland Caribou and Grizzly Bear. Both require big landscapes free of industry and roads - what public lands have been historically. But such habitat is shrinking as industrial and recreational activities dominate public lands. Obviously this presents a huge challenge, but SRD's response is disappointing. It silenced its Grizzly biologist, and covered up science on shrinking Grizzly numbers in Alberta. With Caribou, SRD decided to shoot the wolves preying on the Little Smoky Herd rather than address the mounting industrial activity in Caribou habitat. These murky and blinkered methods are indicative of SRD's approaches to other issues.

Premier Stelmach, Minister Morton and others champion the province's cross-ministerial Land Use Framework Initiative as a remedy to these and other deficiencies resulting from poor planning on both private and public land. The initiative has lacked much political energy and direction, though. The Land Use Framework will need leadership, clarity and legislative direction to set and achieve Albertans' environmental, social, and economic goals for our public lands - without short-changing the environment as usual. Morton will need all his skill to drive this initiative forward, and the strength to address Alberta Energy which typically rejects any planning that could limit oil and gas development on either public or private land.

Given the history of SRD, the scope of these challenges, and the need to integrate efforts with other parts of government, the question isn't whether the SRD portfolio is worthy of Morton. We should ask if Ted Morton is up for the tough road ahead. All Albertans should hope that he is.

Joe Obad is Conservation Director for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) - Calgary/Banff Chapter.